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Damien: Omen II
Damien: Omen II, is a 1978 American horror film directed by Don Taylor, starring William Holden, Lee Grant, and Jonathan Scott-Taylor. The film was the second installment in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omen_(film_series) The Omen ''series], set seven years after the first film, and was followed by a third installment, ''Omen III: The Final Conflict, in 1981. This was Lew Ayres' final film role and the film debut of Meshach Taylor. The official tagline of the film is "The First Time Was Only a Warning." Leo McKern reprises his role as Carl Bugenhagen from the original film; he is the only cast member of the series to appear in more than one installment. A couple of scenes from the film April Love (1957) were used. Plot http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Damien:_Omen_II&action=edit&section=1 edit A week after the burial of Robert and Katherine Thorn, archeologist Carl Bugenhagen (Leo McKern) asks his friend Michael Morgan (Ian Hendry) to deliver a box to the guardian of Thorn's young son, Damien. He reveals that Damien is the Antichrist and that the box contains a warning and the means to kill Damien. As Morgan is unconvinced, Bugenhagen takes him to the ruin of Yigael's wall, showing him an ancient depiction of the Antichrist with Damien's face. Morgan is convinced, but the two are buried alive as a tunnel collapses. Seven years later, 12-year old Damien (Jonathan Scott-Taylor) is living with his uncle, industrialist Richard Thorn (William Holden) and his wife, Ann (Lee Grant). He gets along well with his cousin Mark (Lucas Donat), Richard's son, with whom he is enrolled in a military academy. However, he is despised by Aunt Marion (Sylvia Sidney), who favors Mark and thinks Damien a bad influence. Marion even threatens to cut Richard out of her will if he does not separate the two boys. The same night, the appearance of a raven wakes her and causes a fatal heart attack. Through a friend, Dr. Charles Warren (Nicholas Pryor), who is the curator of the Thorn Museum, Richard is introduced to journalist Joan Hart (Elizabeth Shephard). She was a colleague of Keith Jennings (David Warner) from the previous film. Having seen Yigael's Wall, she draws a link to all the deaths that surrounded Damien, including Jennings's. She tries to warn Richard, but he throws her out of his limousine. After a confrontation with Warren and Ann Thorn at the Thorn Museum, she becomes unsure as to whether Damien's face matches the painting on Yigael's Wall. She goes to meet Damien at his school, but, when she sees his face, she drives off in a panic. On the road, her car's engine mysteriously dies. She is attacked by a raven, which pecks her eyes out. It flies away and, blinded, she wanders into the street where she is run over by a passing truck. At Thorn Industries, manager Paul Buher (Robert Foxworth) suggests expanding the company's operations into agriculture; however, the project is shelved by senior manager Bill Atherton (Lew Ayres), who calls Buher's intention of buying up land in the process immoral. At Mark's birthday, Buher introduces himself to Damien, invites him to see the plant, and also speaks of his approaching initiation. Buher seemingly makes up with Atherton, who drowns after falling through the ice at a hockey game the following day. A shocked Richard leaves on vacation. As Richard agreed to the agriculture project in principle and left him in charge of the company, Buher then initiates the plans on his own. Meanwhile, at the academy, Damien's new commander, Sgt. Neff (Lance Henriksen), takes the boy under his wing and warns him not to draw any attention to himself until the right moment. He also points him to Revelation, chapter 13, in which Damien reads about the beast. Finding its number, 666, scarred onto his scalp, he flees the Academy grounds in a terrified panic, distraught at being chosen as the vehicle for Satan's will. Another Thorn employee, Dr. David Pasarian (Allan Arbus), alerts Buher that some people were murdered after having refused to sell their land. Before Pasarian can inform Richard he and his assistant are killed by toxic fumes released from machinery that mysteriously explodes. The accident injures Damien's class, who were visiting the plant. Damien alone is unharmed, but is taken to the hospital as a precaution. A doctor (Meshach Taylor) discovers that Damien's blood cell structure resembles that of a jackal, but, before he can report it, he is cut in half by a falling elevator cable. Meanwhile, Bugenhagen's box has been found in the ruins and delivered to the Thorn Museum. Dr. Warren opens it and finds the Seven Daggers of Megiddo, the only weapons able to kill Damien, along with a letter explaining that Damien is the Antichrist. Warren rushes to inform Richard, who angrily refuses to believe it and throws him out of the house. The next day, Richard confronts Anne with the letter, but she convinces him that it is preposterous. Mark, who overheard Richard's altercation with Warren, confronts Damien, who first reluctantly and then proudly admits to being the Devil's son. Damien tries to convince Mark that he truly cares for him as his brother and asks Mark to join him, but Mark refuses. Damien kills Mark by introducing an aneurysm into his brain. Almost immediately, Damien is overcome with grief and horror when he realizes that he killed Mark. Shaken by his son's death, Richard meets with Warren in New York. A half-crazed Warren takes him to Yigael's Wall, stored in a cargo carrier, on which a horrified Richard sees Damien's image. Seconds later, a switching locomotive impales Charles and crushes him against the carriage, destroying the wall and convincing Richard beyond doubt that Damien is the Antichrist. Upon his return, Richard has Damien picked up from a ceremony at the academy and argues with Ann about him. When they find the daggers in Warren's office in the Thorn Museum, Ann uses them to kill Richard, proclaiming that she "always belonged to him", which implies that Ann is the Whore of Babylon. Ann is then engulfed by a fire, caused by Damien who overheard the altercation from outside. Damien exits the museum and is picked up by the family driver, Murray, as the fire department arrives. The movie ends with Damien smiling down at Murray, foreshadowing that Damien is now heir to Thorn Industries. Cast http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Damien:_Omen_II&action=edit&section=2 edit *William Holden as Richard Thorn *Lee Grant as Ann Thorn *Robert Foxworth as Paul Buher *Lew Ayres as Bill Atherton *Sylvia Sidney as Aunt Marion *Jonathan Scott-Taylor as Damien Thorn *Nicholas Pryor as Dr. Charles Warren *Lance Henriksen as Sergeant Daniel Neff *Elizabeth Shephard as Joan Hart *Lucas Donat as Mark Thorn *Allan Arbus as David Pasarian *Meshach Taylor as Dr. Kane *Leo McKern (uncredited) as Carl Bugenhagen *Ian Hendry (uncredited) as Michael Morgan Category:1978 films